Vanilla Forums Community Blog

Community Management is still a relatively new profession, one that’s evolving month-after-month, year-after-year. More often than not, Community Managers learn their trade while either launching or growing their community within the corporate vision.

It’s not uncommon for a Community Manager to start their career as someone picked up from another department (often HR or Marketing) as a part-time hire or as someone given extra responsibility in parallel with their main role. And their purpose is often to prove the value of community.

Launching a new community is an exciting yet nervous time. You have done the hard work and have a wonderfully customized platform that is primed for your target audience to join. Senior stakeholders have great expectations of what the community can provide in potential ROI.

It’s a common occurrence in community management that a vocal minority creates a disproportionate amount of work for the team. Online communities are no different than the rest of the world, and it’s to be expected that members will disagree, argue and occasionally fall out with one another.

A common misconception in community building is that as your membership increases, your costs will skyrocket. It seems logical that more users must require more resources, namely extra staff to cope with the influx of traffic and moderation. Thank goodness, you have a secret weapon at your disposal – the Super User.

Whether you’re a brand new community setting out on your adventure or an established community looking to scale effectively and efficiently, the importance of a Super User program cannot be underestimated

If you’re a community manager with a branded B2B community, chances are product ideation is an important part of your roadmap. It’s also likely you’re experiencing at least some of the common challenges faced by this type of community – challenges that create virtual ghost towns if not carefully managed.